Heart of the Underdog
by supersteffy
Summary: Joey prevents Kaiba from getting assassinated and gets shot in the process. Kaiba struggles with how he feels about this, not understanding why someone he's been bitter rivals with for years would risk their life to save his. WARNING: Blood and gun wounds mentioned. (Rating is mostly for minor cursing and the gun violence, because I didn't feel comfortable making it Teen and Up)


Thanks to Sitabethel for beta'ing! Your notes are always super helpful!

* * *

The cheers of the watching crowd exploded as Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon swooped onto the field with a glorified roar. Joey's Red-Eyes Black Dragon roared back, mimicking the challenge in his master's eyes.

"I hope you've enjoyed your short-lived lead, Wheeler, because my Blue-Eyes is about to annihilate the rest of your life points!"

It was true that Kaiba's dragon had six-hundred more attack points than Joey's, but what Kaiba didn't know was that Joey still had an ace up his sleeve.

"Not so fast, Kaiba! You tripped my trap! 'The Selection'!" Joey thrust out a hand as one of his three face-downs flipped up on the field. "For the low, low price of 1,000 life points, I can negate the summon of a monster that has the same type as a monster already on the field-so say buh-bye ta yer Blue-Eyes!"

"I don't think so." Kaiba discarded one of the two cards in his hand. "Activate 'Destruction Jammer'! By discarding one card from my hand, I can neutralize your trap. Nice try, but Blue-Eyes is staying right where she is."

Joey growled as he sized up the field. Kaiba still had one last face-down on his side of the field, and Joey prayed it wasn't another counter trap, or else he would lose for sure.

The duel had been back and forth, both opponents whittling down the other's life points but never gaining a significant lead. Joey now had only 400 life points to Kaiba's 600, and he knew if Kaiba managed to gain the upper-hand again the duel would be his. Joey just hoped his trump card combo was enough to clinch him the game.

"Any other lame strategies, Wheeler? No?" Kaiba continued before Joey could say a word. "Good! Then prepare yourself! Blue-Eyes, destroy his second-rate dragon with your White-Lightning!"

Joey watched as the blast rocketed toward Red-Eyes. "I activate my face-down cards: 'Skull Dice' and 'Graceful Dice'!"

A holographic angel and devil appeared on the field, each holding a six-sided die, and Joey grinned as the two projections taunted Kaiba across the field.

"All I need ta take out that dragon 'a yers is a total of six or better. Come oooooon, Lady Luck!"

The dice went flying, and Joey watched with bated breath as they spun in the air before falling to roll across the field. The blue die stopped first, landing on two, and Joey felt his stomach drop.

"C'mon...c'mon…" he muttered, eyes glued to the red die as it slowed-then stopped on five. "YES!" Joey punched the air in triumph.

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet if I were you," Kaiba commented, and Joey frowned as Kaiba's face-down activated. "I play 'Dice Try!', negating one of your dice rolls-and I'll even be nice and let you choose which one."

Joey huffed and flicked the bangs from his face. "Gee, thanks. Negate 'Graceful Dice'-not that it matters," he added in a grumble.

Kaiba smirked as the blue die disappeared along with its angelic master in a dramatic puff of smoke. The little devil cackled gleefully, scooping up its own die and merging with Kaiba's Blue-Eyes, lowering its attack to 2,500.

"Looks like you're all out of tricks, Mutt."

"Then bring it, Moneybags!"

"Let's try this again. Blue-Eyes! White Lightning attack!"

Joey braced against the wind as the Solidvision attack obliterated his Red-Eyes, blasting passed to engulf him in blinding white light. As the attack faded and his life points fell to 300, Joey stood tall once more, staring back at Kaiba.

Kaiba placed the last card in his hand face-down. "One more turn and it's over, Wheeler-unless you want to forfeit now?"

Despite Kaiba's constant stream of snide commentary and the fact that Joey was indeed likely going to lose to him yet _again_ , Joey found himself grinning as he drew his card.

"Keep dreamin' ya jerk! My turn!"

Joey studied the two cards in his hand, his hope rekindling.

"I play 'Monster Reborn', and I'm usin' it ta bring back one 'a the other Blue-Eyes in yer graveyard!"

"Sorry to disappoint you yet again," Kaiba called, not sounding the least bit contrite as the face-down he'd just played activated. "'Retort' negates the activation of a spell or trap if there's a copy already in _my_ graveyard. Your 'Monster Reborn' is sent to the graveyard, and mine returns to my hand."

Joey's shoulders slumped as he discarded his last chance at victory. Taking a deep breath, he placed his final card face-down. "I end my turn."

"Hn." Kaiba didn't even glance at the card he drew, his eyes pinned to Joey's. "You had a few good moves-for an ameteur-but it's time to end this. Blue-Eyes, wipe out the remainder of Wheeler's life points! White Lightning!"

"If I'm goin' down, I'm goin' down fightin'! Activate 'Just Desserts'!"

The life point counters beeped down as Blue-Eyes' attack struck Joey. Through the after images, Joey saw Kaiba staring quizzically across the field at him as the program terminated.

X

The cheers were deafening as Seto stepped off the platform. He watched as Joey gave a wave toward the VIP balcony where Yugi, Tristan, and Téa were cheering him on, drown out by the chants of Se-to-Kai-ba filling the stadium.

"Why did you do that?" Seto called as he made his way over to Joey.

"Huh?" Joey tore his attention away from his friends and back to Seto.

"Why did you play 'Just Desserts'? You knew it wasn't enough to win you the duel."

Joey shrugged. "If I was gonna lose either way, I figured I might as well get one final hit in."

Seto rolled his eyes and turned on a heel, heading for the stage stairs. "A loss is a loss either way, but whatever helps you sleep at night, Mutt."

Seto felt more than heard Joey chase after him and slowed his pace a fraction.

"Maybe so, but ya gotta admit, I had ya on the ropes at the end there. Had ya down ta a measly hundred life points!"

"One hundred life points or one million, it wouldn't have made a difference. Your loss was inevitable the moment you stepped onto that platform, Wheeler."

"Yea? Well, I'll getcha next duel!"

Seto scoffed. "Please. If I had a dollar for every time you've said that-I'd be even richer."

"I'm serious!" Joey shouted. I'm gonna beat ya one 'a these times. That's a promise!"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Mutt."

" _Seto!_ " Mokuba's voice screeched, terrified, from the walkie-talkie built into Kaiba's coat collar.

Panic and concern stopped Seto in his tracks. "Mokuba? Are you alright?"

" _Get down_!" Joey shouted.

Seto had barely a second to register the words before Joey was tackling him to the ground-then a loud crack rang out across the stadium, and Joey's scream was lost to the hundreds of others as competitors and spectators alike raced for the exits.

Joey's weight pinned Seto down, so he gripped Joey's shoulder to push him off. Joey cried out and Seto released him reflexively. He stared when his hand came back glistening with blood.

"We've got him, sir!" His collar informed him. "The threat has been contained."

 _Threat?_

" _Fuck!_ " Joey panted against Seto's chest.

"What just-?"

"Mr. Kaiba! Mr. Wheeler!" Roland and two other members of Kaiba's security team thundered up the steps to the stage and made a beeline for Joey and Seto. "Are the two of you alright?"

"I…" Seto looked at them, dazed.

Was he alright? He thought so. Yes, he was fine-and it was all thanks to the Mutt. Seto's face felt numb as he stared at the blonde still weighing him down, trying to process everything.

Joey sat up with a grunt, hand pressed to his leaking shoulder in a vain attempt to staunch the flow. "We're alright-but ya might wanna-get a medic over here," he advised, breathing heavy. "The mook-nailed my shoulder."

Seto sat up suddenly. "You're bleeding. A lot."

"Uhhhh, yea," Joey panted. "Tends ta happen-when ya get shot."

"You've been shot," Seto parroted, the realization just then sinking in.

Joey looked Kaiba over, an odd expression on his face. "Yea. I noticed."

"Mr. Kaiba, are _you_ alright?" Roland asked.

"I…" Seto tried to answer, but the bustle of medical and security personnel was oddly distracting. "I'm not dead," he finally answered.

Joey let out a labored laugh and leaned his good shoulder against Seto. "Me neither. Lucky us. Tha' was a close one, though, eh?"

Yugi and the others arrived behind Mokuba, having managed to fight their way past the outflowing crowd. Roland signaled for the security members to let them all pass, and Mokuba crashed into Seto, almost knocking him and Joey both back to the ground.

" _Seto!_ I was so scared! I thought for sure...he'd...you..."

Mokuba broke down while Seto held him, murmuring soothing words to him without much thought.

"The ambulance is ready to take you to the hospital, Mr. Wheeler," Roland reported. "Bring that stretcher over here!" he shouted as the medical team hoisted a stretcher up onto the stage area.

"Wha' do I need-a stretcher for?" Joey grunted as Tristan pulled him off Kaiba and helped him to his feet. "I don't walk-on-my-hands. Argh!"

Joey fell to one knee despite Tristan supporting his weight. Blood was still seeping from both sides of Joey's shoulder at an alarming rate. Seto extricated himself from Mokuba and clapped a hand over the exit wound, ignoring Joey's pained cry.

" _Hurry_!" Seto snapped at the medics. Blood was welling up between his fingers despite the pressure he was baring down on the hole. "Stay with us, Mutt."

Joey grunted, but he was sinking lower, held up more by Kaiba and Tristan than his own will.

The medics arrived and took over, helping Joey onto the stretcher before rushing him off toward the waiting ambulance. Seto stared after them.

"Sir." Seto turned his attention back to Roland, who held out a towel. "For your hands," he prompted.

Seto straightened and took the towel. He cleaned his hands as best he could before handing it back to Roland.

"The authorities are on their way, sir," Roland informed him, "and they'd like a word with you when they arrive."

Seto nodded. "Mokuba." Mokuba looked up at him, still sniffling. "Go with Yugi and the others."

"But Seto-!"

"I'm fine." He crouched down so he was face-to-face with Mokuba. "I need you to keep me posted while I deal with things here. Can you do that?"

Mokuba nodded, wiping his face with his sleeve. "Yeah."

Seto smiled and rubbed Mokuba's arm reassuringly. "Good. Now go," he said, nodding toward Yugi and the others, who were rushing to follow Joey to the ambulance.

Mokuba scampered after them. Seto drew in a deep breath as he stood and prepared to deal with whatever came next.

X

The sterile scent of antiseptic and generic air freshener was cloying in the stuffy waiting room, making breathing difficult. At least, that's what Seto told himself as he watched dust particles dance in a shaft of light from between the vertical blinds. If he shifted just right, he could glimpse the city between them, basking in the sunshine as if everything were normal, just another day in Domino...

" _Seto_!"

Seto jumped at Mokuba's shout. "What? What is it?"

"I called your name several times, but you didn't answer," he said, frowning.

"Oh." Seto ran a hand over his face and through his hair. "Sorry." Glancing around, he noticed one person was missing from their entourage. "Where's Roland?"

"Running some errands. I sent him to bring you a change of clothes."

"Change of clothes? What for?"

Mokuba's eyebrows furrowed and he stared at him. "Because you're covered in blood?"

Seto looked down. Sure enough, rust-red stained his once-pristine white coat. It was covered in speckles mostly, but a large section was dyed in an irregular circle from where Joey's shoulder had rested against him while they lay sprawled on the stage. "Oh. Right."

"Bro, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You sure?" Tristan asked from a nearby chair, eyeing him over an outdated issue of Time. "Maybe we should have a doctor check you out."

Seto leveled a glare at him. "I said. I'm. Fine."

Tristan raised his hands in surrender and went back to the magazine.

"How long did the doctor say the surgery would take?" Téa asked the room.

"He didn't give a specific time," Yugi told her, a reassuring smile in place, "but I'm sure it won't be too long. After all, it was just a shoulder wound."

Seto didn't bring up the fact that bullet wounds to the shoulder were actually very dangerous, being so near the heart and major arteries, and could have any multitude of complications depending on how the shot hit. If his medical staff hadn't been so quick to react, Joey very well could have bled out within minutes…

His phone buzzed with a message from Roland.

 _The footage is on it's way._

Seto nodded to himself as he waited for the file to transfer. When it finished, he watched, stoney faced, as the video replayed his near-death. It happened so fast, far faster than it had felt in the moment. It was hard to make out details, the phone not having the ability to zoom-in the way the actual surveillance system could, but it was enough for Seto to just make out the red dot lit up on his black turtleneck-directly over his heart.

Said heart froze in his chest as the implications crashed down on him, stealing his ability to do anything but stare at the screen in disbelief.

 _If Wheeler's reflexes had been any slower..._

"What is it?"

Mokuba again. He walked over to peer at Seto's screen, and Seto closed the video before pocketing the phone. Mokuba's frown deepened.

"I'm going to get a cup of whatever passes for coffee in this place," Seto told him, getting to his feet. "Would you like something?"

Mokuba opened his mouth, then hesitated. He blew out a breath. "Crackers if they have any. My stomach's not feeling great."

Seto could relate.

Nodding, he took off in search of the nearest vending machine and found a few of them huddled together in a small alcove just down the hall.

Pulling a few bills from his wallet, Seto set the self-service coffee kiosk to brew a large black coffee before turning to glance over the available snacks in the next machine over. Selecting both a small packet of peanut butter crackers and a bag of Cheez-Its, he collected the snacks and his coffee and headed back to the waiting room.

"Here." He tossed the crackers onto the chair beside Mokuba's and reclaimed his seat near the window.

The crinkling of cellophane sounded loud in the otherwise quiet room as Mokuba broke open his Cheez-Its. Occasionally a page was heard over the hospital's intercom, or Tristan would flip further in his magazine, but no one spoke. Seto would have been grateful for the quiet, if not for the oppressive pall that accompanied it.

With nothing else to do, Seto drank his coffee, his mind fuzzy and unfocused. His fingers drummed against the cup. He itched to be doing something, but there was nothing to do at the moment but wait.

When he'd finished his coffee and couldn't take the silence any longer, he stood.

"I'm going to go see if the nurse has any information."

"I'm sure they'll let us know when...they…" Yugi's voice trailed off as Seto marched out of the room.

X

Mokuba sighed as he watched his brother disappear in the direction of the nurses station.

"Seriously," Téa asked, "is he doing alright? He seems a little…off."

"Probably not," Mokuba muttered, "but good luck getting him to admit it."

Tristan snorted as he exchanged his issue of Time for a copy of National Geographic. "It's _Kaiba_ , Téa. He's always been 'a little off'."

" _Really_?" Mokuba glared at Tristan in a spot-on impression of his brother. "Seto was almost fucking _killed_ today! You think you could lay off?"

Tristan ruffled one hand through his own hair. "Sorry, kid. I joke in stressful situations. I didn't mean anything by it. Besides, when have you ever known your brother to crack under pressure?"

"Not all cracks show on the surface," Mokuba muttered. Sighing, he stared at his mostly-untouched crackers. "I get it. I'm worried about Joey too." Peeking up through his hair, he asked, "Do you think he'll make it?"

The others exchanged a glance. Yugi summoned a confident smile. "Absolutely. Joey's a fighter. He's survived Shadow Games; he can survive this."

Mokuba gave Yugi a weak smile in return. "Yeah."

They turned their attention to the door as Kaiba returned.

"Any news?" Téa asked.

Kaiba shook his head, the movement stilted. "His mother and sister have been contacted. They tried to contact his father, but the number listed in his file is out of date. They want to know if any of you have a current phone number for him."

Tristan scoffed, going back to reading. "Tell them not to bother."

Kaiba frowned but elected not to comment. He left again, presumably to relay Tristan's words.

"Wouldn't his father want to know he's been shot?" Mokuba wondered.

The others exchanged another look, and Mokuba recognized it as the "how much should we tell the kid?" look.

"Joey hasn't spoken to his father in years," Tristan finally answered. "If- _when_ Joey makes it out of surgery, that's the last person he'll want to see."

"Before today I'd have thought that person would be my brother," Mokuba mumbled.

As if summoned, Kaiba materialized once more. Without a word, he reclaimed his chair from before. The room returned to its previous strained silence.

X

Seto spun the empty paper cup in his hands absently-the remainder of his third coffee in as many hours-lost in his thoughts as the others talked to distract themselves from the reason they were all there. He kept replaying the shooting in his mind. He wondered just what the odds were of Joey reaching him in time-of them both surviving the attack…

A noise at the doorway caught his ear and Seto glanced up. He stood as Roland entered the room, a duffle bag in his hand that Seto assumed contained the clothes Mokuba had mentioned.

"Progress report."

"Sir," Roland said, striding over to Kaiba and handing him the bag. "The shooter's name is Jeremy Lutz. Apparently he's an ex-employee from before you took over the company."

Seto set the bag aside and folded his arms with a dismissive grunt. "More and more of those loons keep coming out of the woodwork. I'm starting to think Gozaburo only hired people who were mentally unstable."

Roland cleared his throat. "The police are charging him with one count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of attempted murder, and pending the result of Mr. Wheeler's surgery, one count of either malicious wounding or involuntary manslaughter."

Téa sniffled and hid her face against Yugi's shoulder, who rubbed her back in soothing circles and sent Roland a warning look.

"Um, sorry. I'm sure Mr. Wheeler will be fine," Roland assured uncomfortably.

"Any leads on how exactly he managed to bypass our security?" Seto demanded, regaining Roland's attention.

"We're still investigating, sir."

Seto's eyes shrunk to dangerous slits. Roland cleared his throat again and tugged on his shirt collar.

"B-but at present our working theory is that Mr. Lutz had been staking out the arena the past few days before the event. He must have avoided the cameras, because we found no footage of him entering the building. When we secured him, he was stationed in the rafters above the concession stands."

Seto held a hand to his forehead as a headache began to settle in.

"Sir, are you-?"

"The next person who asks me if I'm okay is going to end up in a hospital bed right next to Wheeler," Seto snapped, his eyes boring into Roland's.

Roland closed his mouth.

"And the other business we discussed?" Seto prompted.

"Right. I'll get right on it, sir!" Roland practically ran out of the waiting room.

Seto saw Mokuba appraising him unhappily, and he sighed. "Don't give me that look. He'll get over it."

Mokuba shook his head but didn't argue.

He'd grown a serious backbone lately, standing up to Seto when he thought Seto was out of line. It made Seto smile when it wasn't ticking him off.

Seto looked around at the others in the room, acutely aware that they were all shooting worried glances at him-which was absurd. It wasn't as if this was the first time he'd had an attempt on his life, after all, and he'd come out of it without so much as a scratch.

But it had been the closest anyone had come to succeeding.

Seto ran a hand over his coat and frowned at the krusty stiffness the blood had made of the usually soft material. The frown deepened when he noticed the hand trembling.

"I'm going to change. Stay with the group, Mokuba."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Ignoring the sass in his brother's tone, Seto grabbed the duffle and strode off to the restroom down the hall. Once inside, he breathed a small sigh of relief. The bathroom was small, almost claustrophobically so, but it was also the first moment of privacy Seto had had all day.

Stripping off the coat, he set it aside, wondering briefly if his dry cleaner could get out the stains…

Next came the turtleneck, which, being black, didn't show the blood, but which stuck to his skin as he peeled it away. Seto considered the pants next. Only a tiny amount of splatter had managed to get on them, which again weren't obvious against the black fabric, but Seto decided to change them out anyway.

Standing there, mostly naked in the cramped hospital bathroom, Seto began washing blood from his hair. When he moved on to the mess painting his chest, he looked up into his reflection and froze. His gaze scrutinized his body, covered with blood that wasn't his but very easily could have been, and the room _shifted_.

Seto caught himself on the sink as the shaking started. He noticed it first with his hands again, which he clenched down on either side of the sink, but soon his whole body was trembling. His breathing sounded harsh to his own ears as it echoed off the walls, which suddenly felt like they were closing in on him-

Seto clenched his eyes shut as a wave of nausea overwhelmed him and the coffee he'd just drank came back up to disappear down the drain. He braced against the sink, heaving up only air once there was nothing else left.

When his stomach calmed, Seto rinsed out his mouth and the sink. He stared at his own pale reflection until his breathing evened out and the shaking stopped. Then he stared a couple more minutes, for no other reason than he could still do that.

Regaining his composure, Seto finished cleaning himself up, tossing on the baby blue, three-quarter sleeved button up and designer jeans Roland had brought him. The pressed poplin felt cool against his skin after the black cashmere. When he finished buttoning the front and the collar was adjusted to his liking, Seto gave his reflection a final appraisal.

The light blue of the shirt made his lapis eyes pop, which in turn drew attention to the dark circles beneath. His hair was looking frazzled from the earlier wind and from washing blood out of it. He wasn't at his best, but he'd looked worse, Seto decided.

Tossing the blood-soaked sweater in the duffle, Seto slung the coat over his arm, bloody side folded in, he marched back to wait with the others.

X

The pall settled once more over the room as three hours dragged into four. The door to the waiting room swug open and everyone's head snapped up. Noticing the doctor, they got to their feet and began bombarding him with questions.

"How is he?-"

"Is he alright?-"

"Can we see him?-"

The doctor held up a hand and waited for them to quiet down. "He's going to be fine. The bullet was small calibur and shot clean through. It managed to cause minimal damage, but he lost a lot of blood. Miraculously, it miss his bones by a fraction. Mr. Wheeler is incredibly lucky."

"Luck is one thing Wheeler has in spades," Kaiba commented from by the window.

"Can we see him?" Téa asked.

"Yes, but he won't be awake for a while."

"That's okay," Yugi said, and Téa and Tristan nodded.

The doctor glanced at his clipboard. "He's in room 341. Follow me."

Mokuba started to follow the others, but stopped when he noticed Kaiba hadn't moved.

"Bro, aren't you coming?"

"I have a few more things to take care of. Come find me when Wheeler is conscious."

Mokuba nodded. "'Kay."

Kaiba watched as Mokuba ran to catch up to the others. Seeing them disappear around the corner, he turned and made once more for the nurses station.

X

"He's awake," Mokuba informed him a while later.

Seto nodded. "I have to talk to Wheeler. Stay with Roland and let me know when everything has gone through."

Mokuba sighed, but nodded.

Satisfied, Kaiba headed down the hall toward the elevator. Once inside, he hit the button for the next floor up. The silvery doors closed, and Kaiba glowered at his blurry and distorted reflection, trying to compose his words. The elevator dinged and Kaiba made straight for Joey's room-then froze in the doorway.

The others were crowded around the hospital bed, chattering about the tournament and other trivial matters. Despite a pallid complexion and the sling cradling his arm to prevent him from moving his right shoulder, Joey was grinning as if he hadn't just had a brush with death. A small part of Kaiba admired his unbreakable spirit.

"You seem awfully chipper for having just been shot," Kaiba commented, drawing their attention.

"Oh, look who it is," Joey greeted. "Yeah, the doc put me on some pretty good pain killers, though 'm still feelin' pretty dragged."

"How's the shoulder holding up?"

"Still in one piece, so that's somethin'." Joey gave Kaiba a once-over. "What about you? How you holdin' up?"

Kaiba have him a soft smirk. "Likewise, thanks to you." Then his expression grew serious. "Why did you do it?"

"Wha?" Joey asked.

He and the others stared at Kaiba as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.

"You pushed me out of the way and took a bullet meant for me. Why?"

"What? Did ya _want_ me ta let 'im shoot ya?"

Kaiba shot Joey a glare and waited. Joey sighed and shared a look with Yugi, Tristan, and Téa.

"Give us the room?"

"Sure, Joey," Yugi said, heading toward the door.

Téa followed, saying "We're just glad you're alright!"

"Yeah," Tristan agreed, clapping him on his non-injured shoulder. "And hey, I'll see about getting that hot nurse's number for you."

Joey laughed, waiting until the door closed behind them before addressing Kaiba. He gestured to the tray beside his bed."Would ya like some jello? The nurse was nice and snuck some in for me."

"What I would like is an answer to my question."

Joey sighed again. "Look, ya may be a world-class asshole, but that don't mean ya deserve a bullet lobotomy."

"I reviewed the stadium footage. That shot was aimed directly at my heart."

"Yeah, well, ya get my point," Joey muttered, fiddling with the bedsheet.

"But you miss mine."

Joey looked up. "Come again?"

"It was aimed directly at my heart," Kaiba repeated, softer this time. "If you hadn't pushed me out of the way, I wouldn't be standing here right now." Kaiba's stare intensified. "You saved my life, Wheeler."

"Look, don't go makin' a big deal outta it, alright?" Joey said, scratching the back of his head and looking anywhere but back at those fierce blue eyes. "You saved my life once-on the pier, back in Battle City, 'member?"

"All I did was drop a key into the water. That's not remotely the same thing."

Joey shrugged. "Ya gave me a fightin' chance when I thought I was a goner fer sure. If ya hadn't, I very well mighta drowned."

"I also tried to kill you once-well, mostly Yugi, but you, Tristan, and Téa were there too."

"Yea, well, ya ain't the same person ya were back then," Joey said dismissively. "None of us are, really. Few years ago if we'd 'a been in that situation…I can't say fer sure I woulda pushed ya outta the way. " Joey frowned, as if the admission had left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Thanks for your candor," Kaiba said dryly. "But the fact remains that you _did_ save my life, and I don't relish the idea of owing you for it. So what do you want?"

"As far as me savin' yer bacon goes, I figure we're square. The only thing ya owe me is the second place prize money fer the tournament."

Kaiba was about to retort when the door reopened and Serenity and an older woman-Joey's mother, Kaiba assumed-entered. Serenity ran to the bed and threw her arms carefully around Joey, her mother a half-step behind her.

"Joey! We came as soon as we heard! Oh my god, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Sis. Stop yer fussin'."

Serenity only held him tighter and cried her relief into his good shoulder.

"Aw, don't go doin' that. I'm alright," he assured her, rubbing her back with his free hand.

"I'm so glad you're okay," his mother sobbed, petting his hair. "Your friends said this happened at a Duel Monsters tournament? Why would someone shoot you? You aren't in any trouble, are you? You don't still run with those gangs-?"

"Naw, Ma, it ain't like that."

"We're still investigating the matter," Kaiba announced, and both Serenity and Joey's mother turned, noticing him for the first time.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Joey's mom said, wiping her face. "We didn't realize anyone was in here."

"Ma, this is Seto Kaiba. It was his tournament. The wackadoo that shot me was gunnin' fer him."

"Your son's a hero, Mrs. Wheeler," Kaiba said with a glance at Joey. The barest hint of dry humor in the words was lost on the women in the room, but Joey caught it and his face heated a touch, although he wasn't sure why.

"He's always been my hero," Serenity said, wiping her face and giggling when Joey's cheeks and ears reddened.

There was a knock on the door, and then Yugi and the gang came in. Mokuba skipped past them to stand beside Kaiba while the others greeted Serenity and Mrs. Wheeler.

"Hey! Roland talked to the staff. Everything's taken care of."

Kaiba nodded. "Thanks, Mokuba."

"Eh, what's taken care of?" Joey asked.

"Your medical bills," Kaiba said, catching Joey's eye over the heads of the others.

"Kaiba, ya don't-"

"You were injured while participating in a Kaiba Corp. sponsored tournament. As per the contract you signed upon entering, any and all personal injuries sustained during the event are covered under Kaiba Corp.'s general liability insurance."

Joey blinked. "So...Kaiba Corp.'s footin' the bill?"

"Yes," Kaiba said simply.

"Well, thank god fer insurance, eh?"

Kaiba smirked. "Indeed."

"Uh, Seto-" Mokuba began, but Kaiba cut him off.

"If any more bills or expenses come up as a result of this, feel free to contact me. The check for your winnings will be mailed out within two business days, as per tournament regulations. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a PR nightmare on my hands."

Kaiba turned toward the door, blood-spattered coat slung over his arm, and walked out before anyone else could say anything in response. Mokuba scrambled after.

"Uh, Seto," Mokuba said, voice low as he glanced back toward the room. "The liability insurance doesn't cover injuries sustained as a direct result of criminal activity-which attempted murder definitely qualifies as."

"I'm well aware of that, Mokuba," Kaiba said, staring straight ahead.

"But you just told Joey-"

"-what he needed to hear. The Mutt didn't want to accept anything from me, so I said Kaiba Corp. was paying for it."

"I mean, even if Kaiba Corp. _were_ paying for it, isn't that virtually the same thing as you paying for it?"

"No. If Kaiba Corp. pays for it, it's just business; if I pay for it, it's personal."

"...But you _did_ pay for it," Mokuba pointed out cautiously, watching his brother closely and trying to determine his thoughts.

"Yes," Kaiba said as they exited the hospital, "and Wheeler never needs to know."

* * *

OMG I did SO much research for this stupid thing! Seriously, hours upon hours of research on bullet wounds to the shoulder, what crimes Lutz would be charged with and how to calculate his sentence-which obviously never got used because I said "Screw it!" and just didn't put it in-and general liability insurance.

FYI That last part? WAY more fun to research than I would have ever imagined lol. Did you know some GLI won't cover an event that takes place in a building or on property reputed to be haunted? Neither did I!


End file.
